In Correa's Ecuador, a bulletin on breakfast is routine

On September 11, 2012, the Ecuadoran government interrupted
a morning newscast on the Teleamazonas TV station for an official bulletin. What
could be so urgent? A coup d'etat? An earthquake? A cholera outbreak?

The issue arose a week earlier on Teleamazonas when an
opposition lawmaker claimed that during Correa's visit to a provincial town
where he ate breakfast in a local market, the president's food had actually
been provided by a nearby hotel. It wasn't exactly "breakfast-gate." Yet the secretary
of communications put together a three-minute rebuttal
complete with interviews of market vendors who confirmed that they had prepared
the empanadas and coffee that Correa had consumed.

Under Ecuador's 2008 Constitution, which guarantees the "right
to reply" to those who maintain they were slandered by the media,
Teleamazonas, a private station that's often critical of the government, had no
choice but to broadcast the segment.

The practice of pre-empting broadcasts for official
announcements, known as cadenas, was
enshrined in Ecuador's radio and television law in 1974, under a military
government. Back then, the state did not own any TV stations and the provision
was designed to guarantee air time for important government announcements and
communiqués in times of crisis, according to César
Ricaurte, director of the Andean Foundation for the Observation and Study
of the Media, or Fundamedios.

Until recently, the measure was used sparingly, according to
Alfonso Espinosa, an anchor for the private Ecuavisa TV station, who has worked
as a journalist for 46 years. By contrast, Espinosa told CPJ, the Correa
administration is using cadenas as a
habitual tool to bully its way onto the air, respond to critics over issues
great and small, and flood the airwaves with propaganda.

From January 2007 when Correa was first sworn in to August
2012, his government broadcast 1,365 cadenas
for a total of 11,793 minutes, according to Fundamedios. That adds up to more
than eight days of airtime.

Fundamedios, which has been critical of the Correa
government's crackdown on the press, has itself been the subject of 10 cadenas, Ricaurte said. Just in the past year, Teleamazonas has been
forced to broadcast 69 hours of government cadenas.

Some of the segments pre-empt programming nationwide to
transmit news about government activities. But others serve as rebuttals to
specific news reports and interviews touching on Correa and his
ministers. In these cases, the secretary of communications often informs the station
the day before that it must broadcast the government's reply at a specific time
with no advance warning of its content.

"There is no way to prepare for a cadena because you have no idea what the government is angry
about," said Janet
Hinostroza, who anchors the "30 Plus" newsmagazine on Teleamazonas and
whose reports have prompted several cadenas.
"You get surprised on the air."

Ricaurte, of Fundamedios, calls the cadenas especially abusive because the government has so many other
ways to get its point across. For one, it spends huge sums on advertising. For
another, the government has built up a public
media empire consisting of 21 outlets, including newspapers, TV, and radio
stations that often reflect the administration's point of view. In addition,
journalists constantly seek interviews with administration officials. But
claiming they are biased, Correa has ordered his ministers and many other appointees
not to speak to media outlets critical of his government.

Patricio Barriga, Ecuador's acting secretary of
communications, told CPJ that many of the cadenas
are educational in nature. He said these segments are necessary because private
TV stations, which have the highest audience ratings, focus on entertainment
and don't do enough to educate and inform the public.

The pre-recorded rebuttals, Barriga said, are designed to counter
what he claims have been a barrage of lies about the government told by the private
media. The government stopped providing officials for their interview
programs, Barriga said, because they were nearly always used to provide a
semblance of balance for reports that were slanted against Correa.

When asked why the Correa government found it necessary to
use far more cadenas than any
government in Ecuadoran history, Barriga said: "The law is the law, and if the
law permits it, it will be used."

Although the cadenas
are a nuisance, especially when they eat into prime time, Ecuadoran TV
executives say they are just one of several
ways the Correa government is trying to undermine their stations.

For example, a ballot
measure approved in 2011 states that the owners of media companies must
divest themselves of other businesses. The measure was ostensibly designed to
prevent conflicts of interest in news reporting. However, critics contend it
could make media companies more reliant on government advertising--and less
critical--since their owners can no longer rely on outside business profits to
help prop up struggling newspapers, TV, or radio stations.

There's also a brewing fight over content. After years of
broadcasting soccer games, Teleamazonas and Ecuavisa recently lost their rights
to Ecuadoran matches--a massive audience draw--when the Ecuadoran Soccer
Federation signed a lucrative new deal with public TV. In both cases, according
to executives for Teleamazonas and Ecuavisa, the government's bid far
outstripped what they could offer and they suspect political motives were
involved.

The government "wants to reduce the influence, the business
and the ratings of private television stations," said one TV executive who did
not want to be identified. "And there are many
ways to do that."

[Reporting from Quito,
Ecuador]

John Otis, CPJ's Andes correspondent for the Americas program, works as a correspondent for Time magazine and the Global Post. He authored the 2010 book Law of the Jungle, about U.S. military contractors kidnapped by Colombian rebels, and is based in Bogotá, Colombia.